The following post is something I’ve been wanting to get off my chest for awhile and ended up taking the form of a reply in the “comments” section of a popular urban gay porn blog which recently featured an article about the murder of another porn producer by a former model in which the blogger and several commenters once again seemed to imply – without any evidence or apparent compassion – that the producer was somehow to blame for his own brutal murder. Some even seemed to be rooting for the same thing to happen to me!
This was just the latest and most extreme version of a disturbing trend I’ve been noticing on various porn blogs and social media lately where porn producers and models are casually and in some cases viciously mocked, attacked, slandered, and judged with self-righteous contempt by the very same audience watching and enjoying our movies.
So the following are a few thoughts that I’ve been wanting to share for the past couple months, and just kind of boiled to the surface when I saw the calloused way some people were reacting to the tragic story of yet another porn producer’s senseless murder. I’m sure the people who most need to read this probably won’t ever see it, but I still wanted to get it off my chest and speak up in defense of the “good” producers out there:
I agree that this is a conversation worth having, and shady business dealings like those you describe should be exposed and opposed by consumers, models, AND other producers.
But I don’t think all of this vague talk about anonymous “evil” producers does anyone any good or takes any concrete or positive steps toward accomplishing these goals. All it ends up doing is painting the entire adult entertainment industry with an unfairly broad brush and perpetuating a wildly inaccurate stereotype of the adult industry as some kind of seedy and semi-criminal underworld of greedy, predatory producers and drug-addicted, suicidal models. Which I’m sure is perfectly fine for many of your readers, since this only makes it easier to justify their regular consumption of stolen/pirated content and total lack of financial support for the porn studios they regularly watch. But I digress.
There are dishonest and shady people in every business, and the adult industry is no exception. But in the nearly eight years I’ve been working in this industry (starting out as a lover of good porn much like yourself and most of your readers), I have yet to meet anyone even close to resembling the almost comically villainous caricatures regularly described on this blog. The vast majority of people I’ve met in this industry are honest, hard-working, and shockingly “normal” people who have a passion for porn and are just trying to make a living like anyone else.
One of my very first friends and mentors in the industry (the Marketing Director for Badpuppy) was actually a straight and married “Soccer Mom” with two teenage kids, and the sweetest, kindest person you could ever meet. Another friend and mentor was a gay college professor who started his site as a side hobby and over time turned it into a successful business after a lot of sleepless nights and hard work. Most of us are not the ruthless “pimps” you’d think based on this blog, and we try our best to treat our models and business associates with the same honesty and respect we’d expect in return.
Which is why I think you should start putting your money where your mouth is and calling out these shady porn studios by name. Instead of offering the disclaimer that you’re only talking about SOME but not ALL porn producers, why not be specific and tell us who you’re talking about? Who EXACTLY are these “evil” producers and who are the “good” ones? And are you willing to boycott these studios both on this blog and as a porn viewer?
And just to be clear, I’m talking about responsibly researched and fact-based reporting, not simply repeating unsubstantiated gossip or hearsay from delusional Internet trolls or disgruntled and dishonest ex-models with chips on their shoulders. If your allegations are accurate, they more than likely won’t sue, and even if they do, what better opportunity to actually PROVE and EXPOSE the unethical behavior described in this post?
This clarity and specificity will ultimately be better for EVERYONE – viewers, models, AND the “good” producers who treat their models with honesty, fairness, and respect, and don’t like seeing their entire industry constantly being maligned and attacked on porn blogs like this.
